


i'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you

by lazyfish



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Multi, Polyamory, There's so much fluff guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:53:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyfish/pseuds/lazyfish
Summary: After being woken from his cryosleep, Fitz returns to earth, and the people he loves.





	i'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you

**Author's Note:**

> If you're looking for mood music, [sleeping at last's cover of i'm gonna be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ6wJqaE6o4) was on repeat when I wrote this. :)

Fitz is cold. He’s not felt warm since waking up from the cryo chamber, and he has a feeling it has less to do with the chill of space and more to do with the lack of a pair of warm arms to wrap him up and hold him close.

He doesn’t blame Hunter, or Bobbi; he doubts anyone even told his partners what was happening. Jemma had told him that trying to continue a relationship with the two disavowed agents wasn’t healthy, and that he ought to just move on… but Fitz didn’t  _ want _ to move on. He wanted the people he loved, no matter the cost. Love, he thinks, is worth whatever price he has to pay.

So here he is, drifting through space and trying to make sense of a year he didn’t live and choices he didn’t make, but still feels responsible for. He hurt Daisy - and everyone else, but mostly Daisy. She’s been avoiding him, and Fitz can’t blame her. He wonders if she wants him to come to her, to solve whatever’s happened between them, but the idea makes him slightly nauseous. He’s still trying to figure out his own head, and figuring out someone else’s sounds exhausting.

Fitz draws the blanket wrapped around his shoulders tighter, but it can’t do anything to stop the slow, creeping freeze. He’s fairly certain he’s freezing from the inside out, instead of the outside in. It’s scientifically impossible, but it is one hypothesis to explain why no amount of clothing or blankets keeps him warm. 

There’s scuffing footsteps behind him, and Fitz swivels away from the window he’s been staring out of to see Mack approaching. “We’re about three days out from Earth.” The newly-minted director tells him. “You sure about this, Turbo?” Mack asks, sitting beside Fitz with a grunt.

Fitz nods. For the first week after waking up from the freeze, he had considered all of his options, and only one of them seemed to give everyone what they needed with the least amount of hurt. He’s leaving S.H.I.E.L.D., effective as soon as they reach Earth again. 

“It’s what needs to be done.” Fitz says. He’s sure Mack knows that there’s more complexity to the issue than just Fitz’s strained relationship with Daisy and his disappointment in himself. The beautiful thing about Mack is that he always hears more than Fitz says - it’s what allowed them to become friends in the first place, when Fitz couldn’t say much at all. 

Mack claps him on the shoulder. “As long as you’re sure, buddy.” The bigger man grins. “I’m sure someone - or two someones - will be happy to hear it.” 

Fitz allows himself a small smile. His relationship with Bobbi and Hunter is one of the things he’d never had had to explain for Mack to understand. Part of that is Mack’s familiarity with his partners, of course, but it has always been nice to have someone who doesn’t think he’s insane for trying to make things work. 

Unconditional, selfless love - what had he done to deserve a friend like Mack?

Fitz shoves the thought away. Destroying the Doctor is not something that has come easy. His alter ego creeps through his thoughts like ivy through cracked stone, simultaneously holding him together and pulling him apart. He’s gotten better, much better, but sometimes the thoughts still surprise and overwhelm him - another reason he doesn’t want to be in a high-stress environment when he returns to Earth.

“Thanks, Mack.” Fitz says. “Say, have you seen Daisy?” If they only have three days left, and he’s leaving when they get back, Fitz figures the conversation is better had sooner than later.

Mack points him on his way, and Fitz walks down the hallways of the Zephyr with the blanket billowing around his shoulder like a cape, gathering his courage for the conversation to come.

\---

Fitz is back on Earth, but he is struggling with saying that he is back home. He had spent the first week of his return to the planet with his mum, informing her of everything that had happened - or at least, the unclassified bits. She’s still a bit confused about the fact that he’s not with Jemma, insists that they’re perfect for each other, but Fitz isn’t sure his Catholic mother would approve of him having multiple partners (and with one of them being a male). 

His partners are currently at the front of Fitz’s mind. It’s hard to track down Bobbi and Hunter, because they move so damn often. Hunter had given him a key to their apartment when he had left Fitz in the cryo chamber - just in case, he had insisted - but it had been empty when Fitz had checked.

He’s been on an international scavenger hunt ever since, following the trail of breadcrumbs Bobbi and Hunter left for him. He wishes it was easier, but he also knows why it can’t be; he’s not the only one searching for his partners, he’s sure. 

Now he’s standing in front of a cottage that looks… well, quaint. It’s in a small French town not far from Strasbourg, and it looks like something that’s been pulled out of  _ Beauty and the Beast _ , with stucco walls and a red-tile roof and a meandering dirt path that leads past a patch of flowers. Daisies, Fitz notes with a smile. He’s in the right place. 

He pulls down the sleeves of his sweater, trying not to get too excited. Every time he’d thought that he’d found the place that Bobbi and Hunter were staying, and every time he had been disappointed. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up again, even if the garden is neatly tended and the windows are open to let the breeze in. It might not be them, he tells himself over and over. 

Fitz raps on the door in quick, efficient strokes.  _ Ta-ta-tap-ta. Ta-ta. Tap. Tap-tap-ta-ta. _

The door swings open almost as soon as he’s finished. Bobbi stands in the doorway, eyes bright and cheeks flushed - and that’s all Fitz really has time to see before she crushes her lips against his.

He can’t really breathe, but he doesn’t really care. The cold that’s been chasing him like a shadow for months all but vanishes, replaced by a warm, glowing familiarity that starts in his chest but snakes through the rest of his body with ease. Bobbi pulls away, grinning. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Fitz laughs. He’s about to say something else - he’s not really sure what, because there’s just  _ so much _ he can say - when Hunter appears at Bobbi’s shoulder.

“Hi,” Fitz repeats, looking at Hunter. His partner smiles, dimples appearing at the corners of his mouth.

Hunter scoops him up in a hug, and Fitz relaxes into the familiarity of it. His sweater, once the only thing keeping him from feeling positively hypothermic, now feels suffocatingly hot. Fitz has half a mind to take it off - he’s certain Bobbi and Hunter won’t mind.

“Come in.” Bobbi says when Hunter finally releases Fitz, grabbing for the Scot’s hand. He smiles at her again, allowing her to tug him inside while Hunter shuts the door behind him.

“We weren’t expecting you.” Bobbi begins to fuss around in the kitchen, and Fitz hides another amused smile as Hunter comes to stand beside him. Normally Hunter’s the one to fuss on the rare occasions they do get to see each other in person, but Fitz suspects that something about his being sent to space doesn’t quite sit right with Bobbi. He knows her well enough to know that she regrets not being there with Hunter to see him off. 

“How long are you staying for?” Bobbi asks, pushing a biscuit into Fitz’s hand.

“Forever, if you’ll have me.”

Bobbi stops fluttering instantly, frozen into place. Hunter looks equally shell-shocked.

“I quit S.H.I.E.L.D.” Fitz offers as explanation. “I just… realized that there are some things I want in life that I can’t have if I’m there.”

Neither of his partners move, still anticipating something else, he guesses. It’s never been this simple before, so he doesn’t blame them.

“I want a life with you,” Fitz says simply. “And not one where we’re running around, or hiding in the dark. I want - I want to come home to you. Forever,” he repeats the word with more gravity, and begins rummaging around in his backpack until he finds the ring boxes. He throws one to Bobbi, the other to Hunter, and sits back in his seat, waiting.

“I’m fairly convinced this is a fever dream,” Hunter says, breaking the silence as he turns the ring box over in his hand. “This shit doesn’t happen to me in real life.”

“But it could.” Fitz grins. He had lost so much of his youth and idealism over the last five years, and he just wants it back. This seems as good of time as any to start hoping again.

Bobbi has opened her box, staring at the ring there like it might bite. She still wears her rings from her marriage with Hunter on a chain around her neck, and she’s fiddling with the necklace as she stares at the new ring.

Maybe this had been a bad idea?

“We can’t legally get married.” Hunter says slowly. “I mean, the three of us.”

Fitz smirks. “I know that. I figured we didn’t need a paper, though. We can just - do it.” Hunter looks at him for a moment longer before opening the box and sliding the ring on his finger without further protest.

Which just leaves Bobbi, who still looks apprehensive. Fitz glances at Hunter, who gives him the smallest nod before walking over to their partner. Hunter’s always been better at getting Bobbi to talk about her feelings, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize the reason she’s so reluctant is because of the way things had ended before between the two of them.

“Look at me.” Hunter covers Bobbi’s hand with his, forcing her to stop fiddling with the rings on her necklace. She tears her gaze from the ring, and Fitz watches as her eyes and Hunter’s connect. “We made a lot of mistakes, love. We both know that. But we can’t let our past keep us from our future.” Hunter leans forward and says a few more words to Bobbi that Fitz can’t hear. He doesn’t need to know - just as there are some things that are private between him and Hunter, and him and Bobbi, his partners can also have moments for just the two of them.

Whatever was said seems to convince Bobbi, though, because she takes the ring out of the box and slides it onto her finger with a small smile.

Fitz takes that moment to retrieve the third and final box from the depths of his backpack, sliding on his own ring with a sense of triumph. 

“So, are we… married now?” Hunter asks. “Should we do vows or something?”

Bobbi laughs at him, and Fitz smiles. “We’re married now,” he confirms. If they’re not going to do the whole paperwork thing anyways, it hardly seems necessary to wait. Exchanging rings in a sunlit kitchen is not a bad way to get married, Fitz thinks.

As for vows… “Do you have something written?” Fitz questions.

“Why the hell would  _ I _ have something written!?” Hunter says indignantly. “You’re the one who proposed, mate.”

“I was just curious!” Fitz yelps. Hunter can have a way with words, when he wants to. 

“I’m curious if there’s going to be kissing,” Bobbi says, sidling over to where Fitz is sitting in a way that is oh-so-casual. “Normally there’s kissing at weddings, right?”

“Oi! You already got to kiss him!” Hunter shoves past Bobbi, but she doesn’t look all that annoyed as Hunter plants his lips on Fitz’s.

“My turn?” Bobbi suggests when Hunter’s done. Fitz is all too glad to oblige.

Hunter and Bobbi kiss too, and then Hunter kisses Fitz again, and soon it’s just a mess of the three of them, sitting on the kitchen table and exchanging hungry kisses to make up for the years they have lost.

\---

Fitz lies in bed that night, reveling in the continual warmth that’s stolen over him. Hunter’s arm is tight around his ribs, his husband’s -  _ husband’s! _ \- chin against his shoulder. Bobbi is pressed against Hunter’s back, but her fingers are knotted tightly with Fitz’s. There had been an argument about who would get to be the middle spoon, resulting in a tense drawing of straws that Hunter had won. Tomorrow there will be another argument, and the day after that, another…

Fitz lets out a happy little sigh. Hunter stirs slightly, turning to press a kiss into Fitz’s neck. 

“Go back to sleep.” Fitz whispers.

“I’m already awake,” Hunter murmurs back sleepily.

“What’s going on?” Bobbi asks, shifting in the bed. Those spies and their unbelievable sleeping habits, Fitz thinks with a grin.

“I’m very happy,” Fitz admits without an ounce of hesitation.

Bobbi sits up, shuffling so she’s sitting against the headboard. Hunter follows her, and Fitz doesn’t really have a choice if he wants to maintain physical contact with his husband and wife - and he very much  _ does _ want to keep touching them.

“I thought you were going to ask about vows,” Bobbi says with a yawn. “I’ve been thinking of mine.”

“That was Hunter,” Fitz reminds her.

“Yeah, but you’re the one who’d press the issue.” Bobbi’s not wrong on that one.

“Care to share, then?” Hunter prods Bobbi in the ribs, and she sticks her tongue out at him. Hunter leans over and Bobbi brings her tongue back into her mouth before he can do something silly with it.

“I can go first,” Fitz offers. 

“No, I’ll go first.” Bobbi twists her ring around her finger. “And you’d better listen, because -”

“You’re not saying it twice,” Fitz and Hunter chorus. Even in the darkness of the bedroom, Fitz can see her flush. She’s never been good at expressing how she feels, and Fitz doesn’t fault her for that. She’s gotten so much better already, and he knows she’s trying. Bringing up the subject of vows was probably her way of forcing herself to admit her feelings, Fitz guesses.

“I don’t trust people easily,” Bobbi begins. “But the two of you make trusting  _ easy _ . You make laughing, and smiling, and happiness… you make  _ everything _ easy. I never dreamed of an easy life, or of this life. But I get both of those things, and I’m so glad that I do. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. My boys. Even when you argue about soccer, because you’re cute when you do it.” Fitz can hear the smile in her voice, and neither he nor Hunter rush to correct her that they argue about football, not soccer. “Thank you, for making life easy, and for being there even when it gets hard. I love you.”

Bobbi looks away from them, but Hunter pulls her face back, kissing her softly before allowing Fitz to do the same. He swipes a thumb under Bobbi’s eyes to catch the falling tears, and she smiles at him again.

“You want to go next, or shall I?” Hunter asks. Fitz is surprised, because Hunter hadn’t mentioned thinking about his vows, but he seems prepared.

“By all means, you go.” Fitz is really curious to hear what Hunter has to say now. 

“I always thought that love was something that you had no choice in. That the person you were meant to be with was the only one for you. And then, I fell in love with two people, and everything changed.” Hunter heaves out a breath, and Fitz reaches to squeeze his hand as Bobbi leans to kiss his temple. “It changed my life completely.  _ You _ have changed my life completely. Finding two people who balance me so well, who see my flaws and love me anyways… that has made me better. You make me better.”

Fitz feels a surge of affection for his husband, still not quite believing that the three of them had made this work. It had been a mess at first, but the mess was theirs. And now it’s less messy - not perfect, because no relationship is, but it’s better. And it’s still theirs.

They repeat the ritual of kissing each other, and then it’s Fitz’s turn.

“I have seen the earth and the stars, the ocean and the sky, and still I haven’t seen anything as beautiful to me as you.” His tongue darts across his lips nervously. Fitz worries that he’s going to start stuttering and muck this all up, but Hunter presses his shoulder against Fitz’s, and he’s able to catch his breath again. “You have seen me at my worst, and my best, and everything in between, and you have stayed. Now, I promise you that I will stay. That I will come home to you, even when I’m halfway across the galaxy.” He hears Hunter stifle a chuckle, and Fitz smiles. “I love you.”

He kisses his husband and his wife, and soon Fitz is back to dreaming. His dreams look an awful lot like reality - a blur of stubble and blonde hair, of sunny rooms and daisy flowers.

The cold is gone now, and Fitz is home.

**Author's Note:**

> Squeezing in one last fic before Pride month ends! This was originally supposed to be a) only a drabble and b) Fitzhunter sans Bobbi, but as you can see, neither of those things happened. Yolo.
> 
> Also, if you're curious - Fitz's knocking on the door is the Morse code for his name. :)


End file.
